The Rook, revealed to be Grey Serrado, vows revenge. Her trust in Vargo broken, she informs the Rook. Ren learns that Vargo was behind Kolya Serrado’s death. In exchange for his help against Indestor, Vargo is granted ennoblement. Indestor is executed by the Vraszenian clan leaders, and his family is stripped of their property and noble status. Vargo closes the junction between the dream world and reality, leaving the Wellspring intact. Reality and dreams begin to collapse as Ren, the Rook, Vargo, and Sedge fight to save the Wellspring. Indestor and Ondrakja use magic to draw the Wellspring out of the dream world and into reality. With Vargo’s help, Serrado learns that Indestor plans to destroy the Wellspring and blame it on a radical Vraszenian group. Ren discovers that the woman behind the plague of insomnia is Ondrakja, who is using the dreams of street children to produce ash for Indestor. Leato Traementis and a Vraszenian clan leader are killed. On the Night of Bells, a celebration of the death of Kaius Rex, members of the Liganti elite and the Vraszenian elders are poisoned with ash. Ren and the Rook suspect that Mettore Indestor, a member of the Cinquerat, is planning a violent uprising. Ash can allow people to be killed by monsters called zlyzen, which live in the dream world. Vargo discovers that aža, a drug used to see the dream world, is being transformed into ash, a drug that allows people to touch the dream world directly.

He also mourns the death of his brother Kolya many citizens believe that the Rook started the fire that caused Kolya’s death. Grey Serrado, a member of the city Vigil, investigates reports that street urchins are dying from insomnia. Ren also interacts with the Rook, a Vraszenian folk hero who fights against Liganti corruption. Ren and Tess reunite with Sedge, who now works for a crime boss name Derossi Vargo. Ren begins to feel genuine affection for the Traementis and feels guilty about her lies.

The Traementis family has declined in numbers and wealth since Letilia left: the only remaining members are Donaia Traementis and her two children, Leato and Giuna.

They hope to con their way into the Traementis family and become wealthy. Ren disguises herself as Renata Viraudax, the fictional daughter of Letilia Tess poses as Renata’s maid. After years as Letilia’s servant, Ren and Tess steal her jewelry and return to Nadežra. They eventually become servants in the house of Letilia, a woman estranged from her noble Nadežran family. Ren and Tess flee the city, believing that Sedge and Ondrakja are dead. After Ondrakja beats Sedge, Ren poisons her. She and her sworn siblings Tess and Sedge survive cruelties from the gang’s leader, Ondrakja. Although peace is restored, the city remains unstable, with the native Vraszenians under the control of the Liganti nobility.Īfter the death of her mother, a Vraszenian street urchin named Ren joins the Fingers, a gang. After his death, peace is brokered between the Vraszenian clan elders and a five-person committee called the Cinquerat. Rex paves over the Wellspring of Ažerais, a sacred Vraszenian religious site, and replaces it with an amphitheater. A dictator named Kaius Rex rules the city.

Decades ago, the city of Nadežra is captured from the Vraszenians clans by the Liganti.

The mask of the rose novel